Darkest Before the Dawn
by SeekerLuna
Summary: A year has passed since the birth of the sparklings and things have finally settled down. Things are not as they seem however as nightmares plague Aquafire and force her to continue sessions with Smokescreen. When the past suddenly meets the present, bonds and trust will be tested and pushed to the absolute limit. Can love truly overcome all obstacles? More inside.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I'm back! Bet ya didn't expect me to pop out the sequel so soon, right? Well, the plot bunny for this story has been nipping at me for quite some time so I finally decided to start on it even though my main focus right now is to finish War Within a Spark. Don't worry, I won't stop updating that, but updates will be slow due to my job and other things.**

**The title of this story, Darkest Before the Dawn, was inspired by my former HS marching band's 2011 show, which was entitled the aforementioned title. I would have named it after the last show I marched in but it wouldn't have worked. And the title just seemed to fit with the theme of the sequel. **

**There will be lots of twists and turns in this story, lots of revelations, betrayals and that sort of thing. It might have a slightly lighter tone than the previous story but it will get a bit darker as we progress. **

**To be fair, I am unsure if I will continue posting here on FFN, due to the recent 'Purge'. If things get worse, I will set up shop somewhere else and if that happens, I will inform everyone of where you can find my work.**

**Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed Reason to Live, it meant a lot to me *gives all of you a giant hug* I hope you will continue to stick with me as we go into this story as well.**

**Mercedes Wolfcry, my awesome story twin and RP buddy, is the one who usually gives me a kick to help me along and I love her dearly. Thank you dear, for helping me along when things got tough 3**

**Anyway, long authors note is long!**

**Summary: A year has passed since the birth of the sparklings and things have finally settled down. Things are not as they seem however as nightmares plague Aquafire and force her to continue sessions with Smokescreen. When the past suddenly meets the present, bonds and trust will be tested and pushed to the absolute limit. Can love truly overcome all obstacles? SunnyxOCxSides OCxOC JazzxProwl and many other pairings. Rated T but may go up.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, it belongs to HasTak. I claim only Aquafire, her trine, Skyblitz, Wildfire, Wildsky, Sunrunner, Bolt, Flame Racer and some others.**

**Reviews and criticism are welcomed, but please keep it friendly and helpful. I would like to know what I can improve on.**

* * *

"I can't believe it's been a year already!" Spike exclaimed, laughing as he, Carly and his father Sparkplug watched the twin Seekerlings Sunrunner and Wildsky play with their new toys along with little Rave Dancer. The little femme had recently celebrated her spark day and was happy to be playing with the twins as they celebrated their spark day.

The three sparklings had grown quite a bit in only a year. They'd already progressed from crawling to tottering around on their own though they all still preferred crawling, as it was still much faster than walking.

"Seems like only yesterday that they were sparked," Ratchet agreed. "It won't be long before they start learning to talk."

"Seems a little early though," Sparkplug commented. "I know Spike didn't start talking until he was about two and a half."

"Some babies pick up speech a bit earlier though," Carly added in with a cheerful smile.

"Cybertronian young can either learn how to talk on their own or they are upgraded with speech programs," The three humans looked up at the CMO. "I think it would be best if these three learn to talk on their own, it would be much more…exciting for us all."

"I can't wait until they say their first words," Carly giggled softly.

"Primus forbid it be a curse word," Ratchet shook his helm with a sigh. The three humans laughed at this, silently agreeing with him.

On the other side of the room, Aquafire was peacefully resting against Sideswipe, optics closed as she tried to catch up on her sleep. Without the older twins constantly with her at night, it was up to her to care for the sparklings, which often meant she got very little recharge. Thankfully though, now that the Seekerlings had turned one, the frontliners would be moving back into her quarters with her. They'd earned the privilege after all.

"Babe, you gotta see this," Sideswipe nudged his lover softly, prompting her to online her optics. The Seeker turned her tired optics towards the three sparklings and smiled softly as she watched them work together to build a little tower out of the blocks Wheeljack and Sparkplug had made for them. They got it as high as they could go and started chirping and clicking to one another in their own little sparkling language as they tried to figure out how to finish the tower without knocking it over.

Wildsky motioned and whistled frantically, waving his arms as he tried to instruct the other two sparklings. He carefully shoved his brother down and climbed onto his back, motioning for Rave to get on his back. The little femme grabbed as many blocks as she could and did so, wobbling a little as she reached up to place them on their tower. Sunrunner squeaked and warbled, upset that he was the one who had to be on the bottom.

"So much like Sunny," Aquafire murmured.

The sparklings succeeded in getting a few more blocks on before they became unbalanced. The tower swayed and all three let out little cries of protest as Rave desperately tried to stabilize it. One wrong move knocked one of the blocks out of place, causing the tower to topple. Sunrunner lost his balance as well and sent the other two to the ground.

A few chuckles and 'awws' were heard around the room as Jazz moved to check on them.

"S'okay," He cooed softly as the three sparklings hiccupped and rubbed their optics, trying not to cry. "Yer not hurt." He kissed his daughters helm and chuckled when she pointed to her elbow and knees, asking him to kiss the boo-boos there as well. Sunrunner and Wildsky whined and asked for the same attention from their favorite uncle. Jazz laughed and did the same for the Seekerlings, smiling when they all started giggling and smiling.

The little party continued on until late into the evening when the sparklings all started to become sleepy.

"Primus, it feels good to be back here with you," Sideswipe hummed happily as he wrapped his arms around Aquafire. The femme purred as she curled into the red frontliners embrace and snuggled against him, smiling even more when she felt Sunstreaker slip into the berth behind her.

"If the twins wake up, they are your responsibility," She told them rather bluntly.

"Alright," She smiled at their response. With a few uttered words, the femme fell into a well-deserved recharge, at ease now that she had her lovers with her once again.

The twins watched over her quietly, just enjoying being with her for the first full night since they started courting her.

"Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer," Sunstreaker whispered, voicing his brothers' thoughts.

"Yeah," Sideswipe nodded, kissing The Seekers helm lovingly. "With the twins being a year old and all, we should be able to push forward." Sunstreaker nodded in agreement and relaxed behind his lover, smiling faintly as he slowly relaxed into the familiar position. They fell silent as they allowed their frames to calm and relax, slowly following their intended into a light recharge, keeping their sensors open just in case the Seekerling twins woke and required their attention.

-X-X-X-

Aquafire awoke feeling well rested and relaxed, something she hadn't felt in quite some time. She expected to find the twins still curled around her and frowned when she found that they were in fact missing from the berth. Sitting up, she scanned the room until she found the door to the twins' room cracked open. She heard the soft sounds of the sparklings babbling and slowly got out of the berth, creeping towards the nursery. She peeked inside and a soft smile touched her lip components.

The Terror Twins were sitting in two of the three rocking chairs in the nursery, each holding one of the little twins as they fed them.

"Sorry, did we wake you?" Sideswipe brought the femme out of her reverie when he finally noticed her in the doorway.

"No," She shook her helm and stepped inside.

"We didn't want to bother you so we came in here to feed them," Sunstreaker murmured as Wildsky finally finished and squirmed in his arms. He held the sparkling up against his shoulder and rubbed his back carefully, grimacing when the Seekerling let out a little belch and giggled. He'd had a few bad experiences with burping the twins in the past, much to his own horror and everyone else's amusement.

"Thank you," Aquafire kissed them both and smiled as she watched both of her lovers interact with the sparklings. The little twins absolutely adored their Sires and were always a little spark-broken when the elder twins had to leave for patrol in the middle of playtime.

Even though the war was "over" most still believed that one day the Decepticons would go back on their word and try to destroy them, thus the need for continued patrols.

"Did you sleep well?" Sideswipe asked as he allowed Sunrunner to wrap his tiny arms around his neck and nuzzle against him, purring happily.

"Yes," The femme smiled softly. "Best recharge I've gotten in quite a while."

"Now that we're allowed to stay here in your quarters again, you'll be able to catch up on your lost recharge. Primus knows you need it." Sunstreaker took a jab at her with a grin, earning a glare from the Seeker that promised pain and humiliation. "I love you too."

"Watch it or you'll be sleeping in here with the sparklings tonight," She warned with a grin. Oh it felt nice to be able to joke around with them so early in the morning again.

"Babe, you need your paint redone," Sideswipe made a face at her, much to Sunrunner's amusement.

"I agree," Sunstreaker scowled, smiling only when Wildsky patted his cheeks and squeaked.

"We can deal with my paint job after we've gotten the twins settled for the day and we've gotten some energon for ourselves." Aquafire relented with a small smile, knowing that they would have persisted until she'd given in. And even if that failed, they would have used the sparklings to convince her.

She still had a small grudge against them for teaching the Seekerlings how to use the 'puppy eyes' on her.

The trio finally got up and headed out to the rec room, greeting their fellow Autobots as the base slowly started waking up.

"Aquafire! Is it our turn to sparkling sit?" Skywarp bounded towards her with a wide smile, optics alight with joy as he looked at the Seekerling twins.

"Yes," She sighed softly. Skywarp let out a delighted squeal and waited for the Terror Twins to hand him one of the sparklings. Sunrunner squeaked and reached for the purple and black Seeker, making grabby hands at him as he smiled. Skywarp was one of the twins' favorite mechs on the base aside from Jazz. They absolutely loved the games he played with them, though Aquafire disliked how he always spoiled them with energon treats.

Sideswipe reluctantly handed Sunrunner over to Skywarp and watched as his twin passed Wildsky to Thundercracker.

"Where's Starscream?" Sunstreaker rumbled out, a hint of hostility behind his words. It was no secret that they completely loathed the screechy Seeker being in any sort of contact with the sparklings and surprisingly, it didn't seem to bother his trine mates one bit.

"With Megatron," Thundercracker shrugged, twitching his wings to distract Wildsky. This put the trio at ease as the two older Seekers left with the sparklings.

"Hopefully they'll be gone for the remainder of the day," Sideswipe rumbled as they got their morning ration.

"Agreed," Sunny and Aquafire nodded as they moved to sit down. They enjoyed a small conversation together before Aquafire decided to head outside and stretch her wings, something she rarely got to do.

"Go for it," The twins grinned at her. Aquafire grinned and took off running, jumping into the air as she transformed and ignited her thrusters, soaring higher into the open sky.

As she flew, a sense of loneliness filled her spark. It always confused her since she was far from lonely. She had everything she could ask for…

Except for her trine.

'_This is for you.' _She climbed higher and higher before she flipped and did a nosedive towards the ground, cork screwing along the way. It had been her trines favorite aerial trick and the thought of it made her spark throb.

The femme pulled up at the last minute and soared over her lovers, nearly knocking them over with how close she'd flown. They shouted and laughed, cheering her on.

She forced the memories down and smiled to herself. She would move on towards the future, live her life and be happy… as she knew they would have wanted her to.

It was always darkest before the dawn…


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm back with another update for DBTD! I hope you all liked the last chapter :D you get an extreme dose of cuteness in this chapter as well as lots of foreshadowing!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, it belongs to HasTak. I claim only Aquafire, Steel Wing, Storm Ridge, Skyblitz, Wildfire, RaveDancer, Sunrunner, Wildsky, and Lightning Bolt.**

**Reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated! I would love to know how I can improve upon my writing and story line! Thank you and enjoy!**

* * *

"Not now, sweetsparks." Aquafire groaned quietly as she tried to settle the twins down for their nap. They were being stubborn though, refusing to settle and just making things harder for the exhausted Seeker.

"Listen to your Carrier," Sunstreaker rumbled out sternly. The twins quieted when they heard their Sire and looked up at him with wide optics, as though hoping he would give in because they were trying to be cute. "No." The twins pushed their bottom lips out and their optics began to tear up as they turned their attention back to their Carrier.

"If you expect met to say that your Sire is being mean and cuddle you, you're wrong." She chuckled and picked them up, letting them bury their faces against her chest. "Please just take your nap for me? Carrier is very tired today." The twins clicked and whistled in defeat, yawning quietly as she set them down in their cribs. She turned on their mobiles and kissed their helms before she moved to leave the nursery with Sunstreaker, who dimmed the lights for the sparklings.

"They are becoming quite defiant," Sunstreaker sighed softly.

"Wonder who they get it from," Aquafire shot him a look as she settled into their berth with a groan.

"Femme," He growled softly as he joined her. Aquafire only hummed as Sunstreaker wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his frame, servos dancing along her aching spinal struts to relax her. "What the frag have you been doing? I haven't seen your struts this tense since you were pregnant with the twins."

"You try to keep up with them all day and see if your spinal struts aren't tensed up and stressed." The yellow frontliner chuckled at this and kissed her forehelm.

"Get some rest," He murmured. Aquafire let out a hum and curled into his embrace, quickly dropping into recharge. Sunstreaker rumbled softly and offlined his optics to follow her, knowing he would need it since he had all night patrol coming up later that day.

-X-X-X-

Sunstreaker and Aquafire did their best to ignore the twins as they giggled and laughed, obviously trying to get their attention. It was far too early for them to be up from their nap anyway.

"Carrier!" Sunrunner clicked in frustration when his Creators wouldn't get up.

"Sire!" Wildsky wailed softly, tears filling his optics.

Their Creators jolted up from their recharge and stared down at the twins with wide, awed optics. Never mind that they had no clue how the twins had gotten out of their nursery, they'd spoken their first words!

"Did they…?" Aquafire looked at Sunstreaker, unable to believe what she'd heard.

"Yeah, they did," He confirmed. They smiled proudly as they got off the berth and lifted the sparklings, earning happy burbles from the little ones. They offered them energon lines, which they took happily and smiled.

"I can't believe they said their first words," Aquafire purred quietly.

"Too bad Sideswipe wasn't here," Sunstreaker grunted. "Hopefully they will talk for him as well." Aquafire nodded and moved towards the nursery; curious as to how the twins had gotten out. She stepped inside and surveyed the room.

"Well I'll be," She chuckled softly. The twins had managed to reach up and disengage the locks on their cribs and had climbed down. "You two are very smart," She cooed at Wildsky as he giggled in her arms.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before they figured out how to escape," Sunstreaker rumbled softly.

"Well, now that they are up, there is no use in trying to get them back to sleep." Aquafire sighed and went back into their room, jumping a little when the door slid open and admitted a concerned Lightning Bolt.

"Mom, is everything okay?" He asked, looking between the femme Seeker and Sunstreaker.

"Yes," She smiled at her eldest son. "Sunrunner and Wildsky just startled us, that's all. They said their first words." Bolt's optics lit up and a smile crossed his faceplates.

"Really?" He looked at the young twins and fluttered his doorwings.

"Brudder!" Sunrunner squealed at Bolt happily, twisting in Sunstreakers arms to reach out towards his adopted big brother. Aquafire watched his reaction and was pleased when it seemed he was about ready to melt at his younger brother's words.

"That's right, I'm your brother," He whispered with a smile. He moved closer and took Sunrunner into his arms, nuzzling the little Seekerling with a purr. Sunrunner squeaked in protest but gave in and happily nuzzled back, giggling softly as he did so.

"I miss anything?" Sideswipe walked in then and glanced around the room, a confused expression on his faceplates.

"Sire!" Wildsky squealed at the red frontliner from Aquafire's arms and giggled at his astonished expression.

"He… he spoke…"

"Sides, sit down before.."

CRASH!

"You crash," Aquafire shook her head. "Primus help me." Sunstreaker hid a laugh as he watched his twin and nudged him through the bond. The red twin eventually rebooted and sat up, rubbing his helm as he groaned and looked around.

"Sire?" Wildsky giggled at him and squealed when he was snatched from his Carriers arms and held against a strong chassis.

"That's right!" Sideswipe laughed as he kissed the Seekerling's helm. "I'm your Sire!" Wildsky squealed happily and clung to his papa Sideswipe, nuzzling against his chest with a smile.

The little family enjoyed their time together, encouraging the Seekerling twins to say even more words and names.

"Sky!" Everyone looked up as the door slid open and little RaveDancer tottered in with Jazz. "Sun!" She giggled and tottered towards the twins. The twins stared at her for a moment before squealing and crawling to meet her. Rave dropped to her hands and knees and crawled towards them quickly, launching herself at the twins once she was within range.

The twins squealed and protested, giggling as Rave started to cuddle and roll around with them. Soon they became a little ball of tangled limbs as they rolled about on the floor.

"Wha's shakin'?" Jazz sauntered in, sidestepping the sparkling ball as he moved to claim a seat on the berth.

"Not much," Aquafire leaned over to give him a hug. "Where's Prowl at?"

"Catchin' up on work," He chuckled softly.

"Still?" Sunstreaker raised an optic ridge.

"He makes time for Rave," Bolt added in as he kept a close watch on the three sparklings. "He should be getting off soon to come get her in fact." Aquafire smiled at him, wings hitching a few inches higher from pride.

Bolt had recently started working with Prowl, helping him to organize the duty roster and assign shifts. He enjoyed going over reports with his uncle as well and he especially enjoyed reporting those who had yet to turn in their reports. Prowl even let him come up with fake battle strategies on his own, though he often guided him through some of the plans when he saw a flaw of some sort. Bolt was slowly learning to be a great tactician like his uncle, even without an implanted battle computer.

The sparklings soon managed to free themselves and began playing some little game that they'd come up with while the adults talked. It wasn't long before Prowl arrived, looking a bit tired though it immediately disappeared when he laid optics on his daughter.

"Carrier!" Rave squealed and crawled towards him as he crouched down to scoop her into his arms. Jazz walked over as the Praxian stood and wrapped him up in a hug, stealing a quick kiss before pulling back.

"Hey, Prowler," Jazz smiled at his mate, chuckling when Rave made an amused sound.

"Icky! Icky!" She squealed and laughed, clapping happily.

"Wha? Kissin'? Tha's icky?" Jazz played along. "But ya love kisses!" To prove his point, he covered his daughters face in loving kisses, earning happy bursts of laughter.

"Kissy! Kissy!" The twins laughed as they were scooped up by Bolt.

"You want kisses too?" He smiled, earning twin laughs. Bolt laughed and covered the twins in kisses, making them squeal and laugh as they wriggled in his arms. He set them down with a chuckle and watched as they crawled toward Prowl and Jazz, demanding attention.

"I think it's time for someone to take a nap," Prowl quirked a smile as he cradled a reluctant Rave in his arms. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe held the twins in their arms, both dozing off already in their Sires' arms.

"We'll see you later," Aquafire smiled as Jazz and Prowl left with Bolt trailing behind them. The Terror Twins moved to set their sparklings down for their nap and returned to Aquafire, enveloping her in a loving hug.

"He sure is spending a lot of time with Prowl lately," Sideswipe noted. "Bolt I mean."

"Can you blame him?" Aquafire sighed softly. "Prowl is his only living relative."

"Not counting RaveDancer that is," Sunstreaker rumbled. "She is technically his cousin."

"He's catching up on lost time," Aquafire hugged them close before flopping down onto the berth. She was feeling exhausted despite having gotten a full night of uninterrupted recharge. She knew she should probably go to Ratchet but she also figured that she could wait a while and see if the problem would fix itself. "I'm going to take a nap," She announced.

"Alright," Sideswipe leaned down and kissed her softly. "We'll probably be on monitor duty by the time you wake up."

"Unfortunately," Sunstreaker huffed. He was upset that their plans to continue courting Aquafire had been interrupted by their monitoring schedule. The golden twin leaned down and captured her lips in a slow, passionate kiss before he drew back slowly, optics darkening lustfully as he looked into her own hazy purple pair.

"Come on, Sunny," Sideswipe rasped out, his optics shining with the same lust his brother felt. The twins said nothing more as they left, knowing that if they had they probably wouldn't have left.

Aquafire sighed heavily and closed her optics, immediately falling into recharge.

-X-X-X-

"_Aquafire, where are you?" A hauntingly familiar voice called out through the dense darkness._

"_Steel Wing? Is that you?" Aquafire turned in place, trying to pinpoint where his voice was emanating from._

"_Aquafire! Help us!" Her optics widened when she heard the panic in Storm Ridge's voice._

"_How?" She called out, vocals pitching a bit higher in fear._

"_We don't know where we are!" Her Carrier's voice rang out then. Aquafire began to tremble as the voices of her former wing mates and her Creator's hit her from every side, creating an eerie mix that had her processors aching._

_It all suddenly faded as a young femme appeared before her, red optics gazing up at her kindly._

"_Who… who are you?" Aquafire crept closer to the femme. The little one, barely older than a youngling, did little but stare at her, watching her every move with intent curiosity. Something about the youngling seemed painfully familiar though the older Seeker wasn't sure as to why. "Are you okay?" She crouched down to be optic level with the femmeling. After a moment, her lips twitched and turned up in a brilliant smile before she let out a laugh, sweet and angelic. Aquafire reached over to touch her but the image suddenly shattered, startling her. _

_The ground beneath Aquafire shattered and she was sent tumbling through the infinite darkness towards an unknown fate…_

-X-X-X-

Aquafire jolted from her recharge with a quiet gasp, optics wide and alert as she scanned her surroundings. Her spark was pulsing erratically, clenching painfully, and reminding her of when she'd lost her wingmates.

"It was only a dream," She whispered to herself. "All just a dream…" She swung her legs over the edge of the berth and got up, moving to check on the sparklings. She poked her helm into the nursery and smiled when she found the twins still fast asleep, curled up under their blankets as always. "Sleep well, my sparks." She stepped back out and sighed, tension leaving her frame as she did so.

This was the third time that week she'd woken up from having that same dream. She was beginning to think she would have to restart her sessions with Smokescreen…

"I'll have a talk with him later," She muttered to herself as she got a cube of energon from the dispenser. She drank the cube slowly as she tried to recall the dream and decipher its meaning… if it had one that is. Smokescreen would be able to tell her.

Most of all… she wanted to know who that little femme Seeker was that she kept seeing.

'_Where are you?' _ Those words rang through her processor, reverberating deep into her spark.

'_I'm right here, come find me.' _She answered the echoing question with a heavy spark and sighed as she flopped back on the berth to try and get some more recharge.


End file.
